EFFECT OF PLANTING DEPTHS ON SOME AGRONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF ALLIUM TUNCELIANUM

Allium tuncelianum [(Kollman) N. Ozhatay, B. Mathew & Siraneci] (Syn: A. macrochaetum Boiss. and Hausskn. subsp. tuncelianum Kaman) is an endemic plant species and has been proposed as the wild ancestor of garlic. This study reports agronomic and morphological feature of a field experiment conducted during October 2013 to July 2014 under arid conditions of Turkish province of Diyarbakir to investigate the effect of 7.5 and 15 cm planting depth on morphological features of the plant. The experimental results indicated significantly positive effects of shallow sowing (7.5 cm depth) on vegetative characteristics like plant height, stem diameter, leaf length, bulb circumference, bulb diameter, number of bulbils per plant and bulb weight compared to deep sown (15 cm) bulbs. Flower diameter values varied between 5.74 and 6.07 cm, bulb diameter 2.79 and 3.06 cm and bulb weight between 21.01 and 23.67 g, respectively. Deep sowing had positive effects on generative characteristics like leaf width, number of leaves per bulb, length of leafless stems and inflorescence diameter.